


Lapse Of Judgment (And Memory)

by Insane_but_smart



Series: MCYT Fics [8]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Amnesiac!Karl Jacobs, Angst, Karl Jacobs-centric, Multi, Time Traveler Karl Jacobs, fluff?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28973139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insane_but_smart/pseuds/Insane_but_smart
Summary: Someone finds out about Karl's diaries.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Series: MCYT Fics [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915528
Comments: 58
Kudos: 286





	1. A Time Traveler's Memoir

**Author's Note:**

> oops, my hand slipped.

Karl is a time traveler.   
In fact, he quite enjoys it.   
But why, then, does he seem so afraid? Why does he seem so afraid to continue? 

_Diary entry #1:_  
_Each time I travel, I remember less and less. I really need to start writing these as soon as I come back to the present day…_  
_Im going to start keeping track of every time I travel…_

_Im worried that one day I’ll travel and not even remember who I am anymore._  
_…_  
_maybe I should stop…_

_No_  
_I cant stop..._  
_I have to keep doing my part…_  
_Maybe if I travel enough I'll be able to right some wrongs…_  
_Maybe do something to prevent all of the bad i’ve been seeing_

_I need to keep quiet. I cant tell anyone what happens or how I know these stories…_  
_But I can try and do my part to steer this world in the right direction_

_Don’t forget who you are._

Why does he seem to want to stop, and yet continue? These driving forces have a stark contrast- fear, and then excitement, and hope. 

_Diary entry #2:_  
_I can’t help it._  
_Im… going to need to have to write down some things about myself, i think…_

_i mean, today i saw sapnap, and i couldnt remember him… who forgets their husband?_  
_i’m scared i’ll forget more than myself…_

_i’m sure it’ll be fine…_  
_…_  
_Just in case…_

_Your name is karl. your husbands names are sapnap and quackity. if youre here that means this is true._  
_sapnap has a fire insignia on his shirt and quackity usually just doesnt wear a shirt_

_Don’t forget who they are._

Karl is an interesting person, it is decided.   
Karl seems to know more than he should- Karl seems to have more information than someone of his status should have, and it is truly intriguing. 

_Diary entry 3_

_It’s getting harder now. I’m glad I can remember as much as I can right now…_  
_Karl, you are a nimrod_  
_I think i should stop_

_but i want to help everyone! the whole reason i’m doing this is to help all of them_  
_I don’t want anyone to get hurt anymore…_

_Karl, don’t lose yourself._

Karl’s paranoia grows, and with it… 

_4_

_next time will be the last_  
_i can hardly remember a thing_  
_all i know is from this book…_  
_i’ve got to keep doing this…_

_for sapnap and quackity_  
_whoever they are, anyways_

_and karl, whoever he was_

_to me: don’t lose the book._

  
The boy blinks at the page.   
The boy, with brown hair, brown eyes, and an oddly multi-coloured hoodie, blinks at the page.   
_…Who is Karl?_  
_And why am I here?_  
He closes the book, and he does not know what he has lost. 

Karl is dead, and yet alive.   
Karl is dead.   
Karl had died. 

Karl, as he was, is not coming back.


	2. First Meetings?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The amnesiac finds some people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SPEEDRUNNING I AM SO FAST LET'S GO LET'S GO 
> 
> also if y'all wanna hit me up at all you can find me on tumblr at @insane-but-smart ;) please give me things heart emoji

The boy makes his way out- out of that small and cramped room of mysteries that he cannot unravel. Perhaps, if he can find the two people mentioned- Sapnap and Quackity, was it? He thinks so- he can figure out where Karl went? 

He is hot. Not- not hot in that way, but he is overly heated. Warm. He is too warm, so he pulls off the hoodie to reveal the white tee underneath, tying it around his waist. That’s… better. 

Also, he does not have a name. 

He should probably find one. 

Carl? No. Too confusing. 

Alex? No, too... it just doesn't... no. 

Think, think...!

...Lethe? It means amnesia, or something like that, which is… well, it’s what he has, so he guesses it’ll work. 

Besides, Lethe is a good name, in his opinion. 

Though, he guesses he wouldn’t know- you know, what with… actually, that doesn’t matter. 

And so, Lethe, his hair disheveled and the wind blowing behind him, looks out over the planks. 

Time to find Karl’s husbands. 

  
He walks, a bit, watching his sneakers hit the planks like a soft, constant drumming sound. At least Lethe knows he is getting somewhere, which he assumes is good. He is getting closer to something. What it is? He is not aware yet.

Yet. 

_Yet is not forever, Lethe,_ he admonishes, _Yet can be changed. Karl has something to do with you, so if you figure out who he is, it’ll make sense. It has to make sense._

He… thinks so, anyways. 

  
“Alright, but where the hell is he?” a voice exclaims, and Lethe turns in its direction. It’s slightly to the left, and so he heads that way. Maybe…?

“I don’t know, Snapchat, alright? He’s- I don’t know where he is!” a voice, seemingly annoyed, says, somehow managing to make whatever the nonsense word ‘snapchat’ is sound angered.

“Bullshit!” another voice juts in. “You’re- you’re literally the fucking god of this server, you know where he’s at!” 

“I don’t!” the second voice repeats, more desperate now. 

  
“Hey,” Lethe says, as the sight of a strange person with a white mask and disgustingly lime green hoodie, someone with a blue tracksuit, and someone else with a white shirt and black undershirt in an argument- the one with the white shirt is holding a sword to the green one’s chest as the third restrains them- turn towards him. “What’s… what’s going on here? Who’s missing?” 

  
The one with the white shirt _(is that a fire insignia?)_ looks him up and down. “Karl?” 

Lethe turns around, only to find nobody else there. He looks back, and, confused, replies, “No?” 

“Come on, this isn’t funny, Ka-” 

“My… name is Lethe.” he interjects, and then realizes that maybe that was rude. 

Well, he cannot be blamed. It is his first conversation, after all.

“Heyyyyy, Karl, my friend, my fuckin’ pal, my buddy! You’re sure you aren’t-” the person in a tracksuit replies, “D- are you sure you’re- you’re doing alright?” 

Lethe looks between them for a moment, before asking, “Did you know him? Karl, I mean.” 

“Karl, w-” 

“Guys, K- Lethe- he doesn’t remember,” the green person says, and Lethe relaxes- a tension he did not know he carried leaving him, and yet a new one taking its place. “He’s just… we need to introduce ourselves. I’ll start- my name’s Dream. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

Dream’s voice is understanding, but at the same time untrustworthy. 

_I’ll… have to hold out judgment on him, I think,_ and Lethe is probably right with that judgement. _Better safe than sorry._

“Fine. I’m… I- My name is Sapnap. It’s… nice to meet you.” the one in a white shirt says.

Lethe does not think that Sapnap thinks it is nice. However, that is not his problem, currently- he has other things to worry about. Things like Karl. 

And yet, he feels the hints of a smile tugging at his lips. 

“It’s nice to meet you too,” he replies, before turning to the man in a strangely blue tracksuit. “And… who are you?” 

“Alex Quackity, but you can call me whatever you want,” Quackity says, and Lethe blinks. 

_Wait. Aren’t those two… Karl’s fiancés? Should I even bring that up while he’s still gone…?_ Lethe thinks, and then decides against it. He may be young, but he knows better than to bring that up… 

“I guess I’ll just call you Quackity, then,” Lethe says, and allows himself a small smile. “What- what are you doing? Before I came along?” 

“We thought this bastard,” Sapnap says, jerking a thumb towards Dream, “Knew where Karl was, because he’s missing, and we can’t find him. He looks… a lot like you,” Sapnap muses, before shrugging. “Sorry for the confusion.” 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, I… don’t really remember much either, so for all I know I could just be him. But… if I was, I bet I’d remember.” Lethe says, and he’s really only kidding, but there’s a dark expression that flits over Sapnap’s face, and he worries he’s done something wrong. 

He’s sure it is nothing. 

“Hey, mi amigo, I’m sure that he’s out there!” Quackity says, slipping an arm around Lethe’s shoulder (When did he get that close, anyways?) “We’ll find him, alright? Yeahhh! Show me a smile, mi amor, because we’ll do it in no time!” 

Lethe snorts, just a little, and decides that Quackity is a funny person.

“Anyways, anyways- do you have any ideas of where to look for him? Erm- Karl, I mean?” 

_I’m actually not sure if I can trust these guys or not,_ his head tells him, and his heart replies with a, _B_ _ut they could have done something to hurt you by now, so surely they must be good people._

Lethe decides to trust his heart, because for once, it is more logical than his head.

Not that he’d know, anyways. 

“We… we can postpone that, for now, I think,” Sapnap says. “For now, we should probably get you accustomed to the server.” 

There’s a low chuckling, and Lethe looks over to see Dream standing nearby with a wide grin, his arms spread wide, and a slightly crazed look shining in his eyes.

“Lethe! My amnesiac friend- welcome to the Dream SMP!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LETHE MY BELOVED........... 
> 
> i've never written quackity OR karl before so i'm sorry if it's bad LMAO


	3. Meet The SMP- Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quackity is a memer, and Dream (predictably) is a piece of shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LMAO i don't cuss irl so writing Quackity is something.   
> i'm trying to update every day! so far it's going well.

Lethe blinks. “Thank… you?” He’s not quite sure of the reason behind the dramatics, but he guesses it’s normal, because Sapnap and Quackity do not bat an eye at the behaviour. “Is it only you four?” 

“Hah- of  _ course _ not,” Dream replies, and he sounds a little haughty, “There’s way more people. There’s Tubbo, Ghostbur, Niki, Punz, Fundy, Bad, Skeppy…” 

“That’s a lot of people,” he says, laughing just a little nervously. “I… do I have to meet them all now…?” 

“Oh, no no, no,  _ no, _ Lethe, you and I can go around as slowly or as quickly as we want to. Come o-”

“Hey, hey, wait just a fucking moment!” Quackity butts in, his arm tightening just a little around Lethe, “You’re not taking him anywhere, you little green bitch.” 

“Actually, I-” 

“No, no, I know better than you, you fucker, so shut the fuck up.” 

_ I- uh- what? Do… Quackity, do you actually win arguments by just being loud…? Imagine if you were a lawyer…  _

“Alright! Alright…” Dream says, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I guess I’ll just go then, if I’m  _ so _ unwanted.” 

Dream strides off, and Lethe still has absolutely no idea what just went down. 

“Uhm… so… should- should we be going now?” He says, fidgeting with his hoodie’s sleeves before slipping his hands into his pockets. 

“I mean, if you want to?” Sapnap shrugs. “There’s really not much rush.” 

“I guess so, but… don’t you want to find Karl?” Lethe questions, and Sapnap forces a smile (and he can tell, because it looks off- nothing natural). 

“Hey, he can wait a bit longer, am I right?” 

“Ayy, Snapmap,” Quackity interjects, “Quit it with the serious talk, mi amor! We gotta show Lethe around the server! Can’t have him breaking into Church Prime or something!”

_ Church… Prime…? _

Sapnap rolls his eyes before sighing. “Fine, fine- come on, come on.” He points to a strange amalgamation of blocks floating in the air, in the direction that he came from. He recognises some of the buildings, too, from his walk over. “That’s L’manburg- or, well, as much as you can see from here.” 

“Woah.” 

“It’s not actually part of the SMP- there was this whole war and shit- but we can go check it out if you want.” 

“Do a lot of people live there? Like- is it a- a- a country or something?” 

“Yeah, I guess you could call it that. You wanna go check it out?” 

“Sure!” 

Lethe wonders if Karl lived there. 

L’manburg is a nice place, Lethe thinks. If Karl had lived here, Lethe would understand why.

They’re looking at the buildings and at the various posters dotted around (Lethe briefly wonders who Technoblade is, before dismissing the thought) when Quackity gasps loudly. 

“Ohhhhhh, mi amigos- look who it  _ is,  _ it’s fucking BadBoyHalo- Hey, Lethe, make sure you swear a  _ lot _ when you talk to him, he likes- the fucker  _ loves _ when people do that.” 

“Really?” Lethe asks, thinking about it for a moment. 

“Yeah, man, he  _ loves _ it so much-” 

“Okay, okay,” Lethe says, trying to think of as many swear words as humanly possible. 

‘BadBoyHalo’ sees the group and gasps, smiling. “Hey Karl! Where have you been, you little muffinhead?” 

Lethe blinks, and decides to trust Quackity’s advice. “Who- who the fuck is Karl?” 

Bad slams his hands over where his ears would be, and yelps “LANGUAGE!” as Quackity cackles from behind him. 

“Quackity, what the heck? I thought you said he liked swearing!”

“No, I  _ don’t, _ you muffin! Quackity, you can’t just lie to everyone!”

“Heyyyy, it was funny though, right, Lethe?” 

_ Oh- well, then, maybe I shouldn’t be so trusting…  _

Before he can even open his mouth to reply, Bad replies, “No!” Groaning, he turns to Lethe. “Anyways, you muffinhead, my name is Bad, and I do not like swearing.” He smiles, and Lethe smiles back. 

Lethe thinks Bad is nice- in a different way than Quackity, or Sapnap, or Dream. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” he says, “My name’s Lethe.” 

“Heyyyyy, mi amor, don’t hang around that motherfucker-” 

_ “LANGUAGE!”  _

“-because he’s going to try and give you fucking  _ dunderhead, _ and we know how that’ll go~” 

Bad looks like he is having a crisis, and Quackity looks like he’s holding in copious amounts of laughter. 

Sapnap, on the other hand, is  _ not _ holding in his laughter, and Lethe lets out a giggle. “I don’t even know what that  _ means,”  _ he says. “You- you’re such a… a…” Lethe tries to think of a word that won’t set Bad off. 

“...a nimrod,” he decides. “You’re a nimrod, Quackity.” 

“I- okay, okay, let’s- let’s fucking go-” 

“Ooh, hi Karl!” a raspy voice juts in, “Where have you been? Ah- here, here- have some blue, you look a little stressed.” 

Lethe turns around to see a transparent person in a yellow sweater and a faded red beanie holding a hand out to him, which is full of blue dye. He picks it up curiously, before realizing he should say something back. 

“Uh- thank you,” he says, holding the ‘blue’ in his hand a moment, before putting it in his pocket. 

“Oh! Ghostbur, this is Lethe, and Lethe, this is Ghostbur!” Bad chirps, and Quackity looks like he’s going to lose it, as Sapnap looks like he is  _ also _ going to lose it (albeit in a different way- which one is up to interpretation). 

“Hey, Ghostbur,” he says, waving, and Ghostbur waves back. 

“Hello, Lethe!” he says, “Are you Karl’s twin or something? Perhaps a cousin…? I’ve never seen you around before!” 

Lethe pauses to think about that. “Uh, I don’t think so? I mean… I think I would remember if I was? I think we just look similar…” 

“Oh, it’s like that… that one doppelganger thing,” Sapnap adds, finally getting a chance to speak, that is, before Quackity interrupts, “Hey, Lethe, let’s go check out more of the cool shit around here.” 

Lethe looks at Quackity, before looking back at Ghostbur and Bad. “Bye, guys,” he says, and there’s a responding chorus of “Bye!”

Lethe thinks that they are both good people. 

Then again, who is Lethe to judge? He is only an amnesiac, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [BEFORE YOU GO, THERE'S FANART!](https://manifoldland-empire.tumblr.com/post/641388161184022528/a-couple-lethe-drawings-for-insane-but-smart-d)   
> I am NOT lying when I said that I almost fainted when I got this, because I was just so, so happy. Please go support the artist!

**Author's Note:**

> TALES FROM THE SMP IS SO GOOOOOOOOOOOD IT'S SO GOOOOOOOOOD WHAT THE HELL


End file.
